Amazon.com has never produced a publicly available report on its contributions to climate change – or how it plans to respond to the effects of climate change on the company. In fact, Amazon.com repeatedly has urged its shareholders to vote against resolutions calling for basic reporting on climate risks. We need more consumers and investors to urge Amazon.com to do the right thing and address climate change without delay.

SEND YOUR LETTER NOW!

Subject:
Take action on climate change!

Jeff Bezos, CEO, Amazon.com:
cc: Investor Relations

As concerned investors and consumers, we write to urge Amazon.com to take constructive action to address climate change. Given the dire global implications of climate change we believe it is urgent that every corporation do all it can to measure and reduce its carbon footprint. We urge Amazon.com to rethink its position and to start work this year on your first report on the company’s climate impacts, risks, and carbon reduction plans.

This spring, for the second consecutive year, shareholder votes in support of the climate change resolution filed by Calvert Investment Management exceeded 20%. This demonstrates a significant level of concern about the company’s lack of research, disclosure, and action when it comes to evaluating the impacts of climate change on the company, including risks related to greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption.

We find it alarming that Amazon.com again urged shareholders to oppose this resolution. Many corporations, across industry sectors, provide regular reports on how they are managing climate risks. While Amazon.com has some green initiatives, the lack of publicly available information on the company’s climate and energy-related impacts and risk management plans is a glaring omission. Nearly 70% of S&P 500 companies and more than 80% of Global 500 companies disclose climate related data through the Carbon Disclosure Project. We are disappointed by Amazon’s failure to participate in the Carbon Disclosure Project again so far this year.

While Amazon claims that its e-business is inherently more environmentally friendly, the climate impacts of e-commerce are becoming increasingly understood – and sizeable. Company data centers, for example, use tremendous amounts of energy. In fact, due to their electricity use, McKinsey & Company estimates that data centers will be responsible for a greater portion of global GHG emissions than airplanes by 2020! (McKinsey Quarterly; Data centers: How to cut carbon emissions and costs; November 2008)

We urge Amazon to make action on climate change a priority. An important first step is to issue a public report on the company’s climate impacts and risks. So doing will enable the company to develop appropriate plans to improve its carbon footprint. In addition, sharing information on the environmental impacts, including those related to greenhouse gas emissions, for the Kindle e-reader, is also needed. If Apple can do this – so can Amazon!